After doing substantial research, including talking extensively to a Lindblad employee who had been on this trip, we chose this "expedition" to see as much of the Belize reef as possible. However, we did much less snorkeling than expected and only some of what we saw was worthwhile.
Our first day of snorkeling was cancelled due to supposedly windy conditions at the reef. Instead we were ...
To see adult and baby whales in the Gulf of Cortez and Pacific. Saw many whales but were unfortunately not able to get close to the babies.
Food was just average and repetitive/boring.
Should not have had to pay extra for alcohol.
Culture of wait staff was different than our prior trips which did not have an American flag.
This was a Seattle based boat with essentially all American ...
The whale watching was amazing but we only went out 2 hours a day? We came to see whales, I expected to go out morning and afternoon. We were on a boat which was brought back 30 minutes earlier than the others. Why?
There was a lot of down time. I thought we would be going out more than once a day to look at the whales. I was expecting more time out on the water.
I would have liked more ...
Day 1: Met at airport for charter to Puerto Barries. Overall pretty easy process. We did have issue with security line timing, and interesting to learn the guide with us didnt know Spanish, so was unable to communicate with the official, however all was resolved.
Immigrations was a nightmare, partially because 2 minutes before our flights took off, our tour group starting handing out numerous ...
We love whale watching and have a curiosity about the Sea of Cortez but have not been successful in attempts to explore it on our own. The itinerary fit our wishes even better than we knew to wish for.
Our companions we most enjoyable and valued the same experiences we did.
We both participated in and enjoyed the morning stretch class and we used the fitness center and found the masseuse ...
I was so excited to go on this trip of a lifetime to someplace that I had just read about and never dreamed I would ever see in person. My two daughters selected this excrusion to celebrate many lifetime events, so I was along for the ride. However, I was overwhelmed with the level of care that we received once we joined the team at Lindblad/Nat Geo. Every aspect of this trip was well planned. ...
This was on my husband's bucket list, not mine. I was afraid of the Drake Passage and didn't really want to go. It turned out to be the best adventure of our lives! We started in Santiago, Chile with the pre-cruise wine tasting tour. This included a trip around Santiago the first day, three vineyards over the next two days, a lunch we cooked at one vineyard, and two gourmet dinners in ...
Antarctica has been my dream for years. I researched every type of tour operator before deciding on National Geographic Orion. It is a small luxury ship, where they have the ability to get everyone off the ship for multiple daily excursions. There were a dozen naturalists aboard who gave daily lectures on everything from photography to killer whales. Every detail was thought out and implemented to ...
We traveled with Lindblad/National Geographic last year to the Galapagos and Machu Picchu and it was excellent, so we decided to take the Antarctic cruise.
This trip was fantastic for many reasons. The ship was small enough (148 passengers) so it felt like a community or like minded adventurers. It was well maintained with spacious cabins. The crew from the hotel staff to the waiters and ...
We picked the NatGeo Explorer/Lindblad cruise to go to Antarctica because we figured we would get more than just a tour of Antarctica and it truly went above and beyond our expectations! The price tag was more than worth it and we couldn't recommend this trip more - our only regret was not going for a room with a full window instead of a porthole.
Our expedition leader (Lucho) did an amazing ...